Deftones continue to receive plenty of acclaim for their 'Koi No Yokan' album, with the disc making many year-end Top 10 critics lists, including a No. 1 spot on Loudwire's 10 Best Rock Albums of 2012. But the success for the band is bittersweet as they've been doing it without the services of longtime bassist Chi Cheng, who has mostly been in a comatose state since his 2008 car accident.

While Cheng has been out of action, singer Chino Moreno says his presence is felt on their recent material and he feels the musician would appreciate what the band has been doing in his absence.

Moreno tells the Irish Times, "Some of the best times in our lives have been together as friends making this music together and he’s a very big part of it. I’ve been friends with him for most of my life. I think he would appreciate what we are doing now."

The band's creative resurgence with both 'Koi No Yokan' and their previous disc 'Diamond Eyes' came after Cheng's accident, and Moreno says that it really proved to be a catalyst for the band's future musical focus. He says, "It made everybody sit back and realize that little things don't seem to matter so much anymore. It's just music. It is not the be all and end all, but it is a gift and we appreciate it. Everybody got into a really good headspace and it made us all close together. We started to appreciate and enjoy it more."

The singer adds, "A lot of people deal with things that are bad. Once you've been through something, you grow from it and you take a lot in. You can always turn it into something positive."

As for Cheng's future, Moreno says, "I think [we'll see him recover]. That's what keeps us going. [It's] four years since his accident. He's still alive, he's still fighting. He wants to make it through this. It has happened before in a lot of cases. We do keep positive and hopeful. It helps us to carry through and keep going. It could be the case that he never wakes up, but the best thing we can do is keep a positive mental attitude about things."